TIGERS NOTES: Lamont happy to wind up in the dugout with Ausmus again, anyway

DETROIT — In his interview for the managerial opening, one of the leading candidates made it clear who he’d want beside him in the dugout, acting as his bench coach, if he were to get the job.

When Gene Lamont interviewed with the Boston Red Sox in 2011, the name he threw out was Brad Ausmus.

When Ausmus interviewed for the Detroit Tigers’ opening this past week, the name he insisted on was Lamont.

That faith speaks to the bond established between the two — as third-base coach and player at the time — more than a decade ago in Houston.

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Ausmus was the one who got his wish, named Sunday as the Tigers’ 37th manager. That made it easy for Lamont to say yes, when general manager Dave Dombrowski called him and told him he was no longer a candidate to manage the Tigers, but asked if he would stay on in his role as bench coach.

“I’ve known Brad since my time coaching with the Astros in 2002,” Lamont said. “He is not only a good baseball mind but a very smart baseball mind. I really wanted to stay in Detroit, so I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to help Brad as his bench coach.”

Lamont’s effusive praise — typical of most who’ve worked with Ausmus — was the reason that Dombrowski and former manager Jim Leyland knew about the former big-league catcher.

“Gene Lamont’s been praising him to me for years,” Dombrowski said. “When I called Gene to offer him the (bench coach job), he said he’s the smartest player he’d been around.”

Had Lamont’s ideal scenario worked out two seasons ago, he’d have been able to mold the younger Ausmus as a protege, grooming him to be a manager. He’ll basically provide the same role, just with the job titles reversed in Detroit.

“I certainly knew, going into any of these managerial interviews that the one knock on me is going to be the lack of managerial experience. And I understand that,” Ausmus said at his introductory news conference Sunday.

“One of the plusses is ... I’m going to have someone standing beside me in the dugout with plenty of not only managerial experience, but he’s been a third base coach, he’s been a bench coach, he’s been around the game for decades. Good friend of mine, and quite frankly is the guy I would’ve had as the bench coach regardless. It just so happened that he was already here, in Gene Lamont.
“Hopefully that mitigates some of the lack of experience.”
While Lamont capably fills the bench coach role, none of the other slots on the coaching staff have been filled, yet.

Retaining pitching coach Jeff Jones would certainly go over well with the five starters he’s helped mold into one of the best units in baseball. But it’s not a given.

“We are in the process of looking at possible pitching coach candidates. I know Jonesy from when I was here. He was a coach here. And certainly is a prominent name on that list,” Ausmus said. “But right now, we haven’t made any final decisions, but that will be forthcoming.”

While Dombrowski had originally told all of Leyland’s coaches — Lamont, Jones, third base coach Tom Brookens, first base coach Rafael Belliard, hitting coach Lloyd McClendon and bullpen coach Mike Rojas, whose contracts all expired last week — that they were free to pursue other opportunities, any would be welcomed back, if Ausmus wanted.

“I would recommend them to Brad, and any other club, because none of them did anything wrong with us. It’s just circumstances that we have in our game,” Dombrowski said.
“Now, it’s a situation that Brad needs to bring in his own people that he feels comfortable. Any input he wants, he’s welcome to, but I also think it’s extremely important that he have his staff, that he wants.”

McClendon, the only internal candidate interviewed for the job, has reportedly been given a second interview for the Seattle Mariners managerial job. He was a leading candidate three years ago, when Eric Wedge got the job.

No qualifying offers given to FAs

The deadline to extend qualifying offers to impending free agents was 5 p.m. Monday. As general manager Dave Dombrowski indicated Sunday, the Tigers did not make qualifying offers — set at $14.1 million this year — to any of their eight in-house free agents, making them free to negotiate with any club, starting at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.

That does not preclude the Tigers from trying to bring any of them back — it just means they were not willing to risk giving a pay raise of 100 percent or more to any of the free agents, in order to guarantee they’d get something in return if they left, namely a compensatory first-round pick in June’s draft.

The Tigers would still like to retain at least a couple of the eight free agents, although Dombrowski said it was “highly unlikely” that Jhonny Peralta would be one of those, considering they have their everyday shortstop in Jose Iglesias.

Second baseman Omar Infante could be back, but Dombrowski said, “We like (Hernan) Perez a lot.” The Yankees have reportedly expressed interest in Infante, if they cannot come to terms with their own free-agent second baseman, Robinson Cano.

Set-up man-turned-closer Joaquin Benoit is probably the most likely to return to the Tigers.

“You want to bring a closer back. We’re going to have a closer, so we’ll want to pursue somebody to pitch at the back end of the bullpen,” Dombrowski said. “Joaquin is in that group, but there are a lot of closers out there. It’s the one area where there are a lot of guys. That’s the one area I think we need to address, with him or someone else. And then we’ll look at the rest of the club.”

The Tigers are holding organizational meetings this week, and will set the offseason priorities then.

Tigers’ top rookie named

Jose Iglesias was named the Tigers Rookie of the Year by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association. The DSBA has selected the team’s top rookie since 1969.

Quintin Berry won the award last season.

Iglesias, who came over in trade at the July 31 deadline, led the American League with 35 infield hits, and was second among AL rookies with 106 hits and 31 multi-hit games. He’ll be presented with his award prior to a home game in 2014.

The slick-fielding shortstop was credited with the top Web Gem play in 2013 by ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” crew, but did not play enough games at shortstop to warrant consideration for a Gold Glove.

There’s an chance he’ll be among the top vote-getters when the Baseball Writers’ Association of American unveils its AL Rookie of the Year on Nov. 11. Iglesias finished second to Tampa’s Wil Myers for the Sporting News’ AL Rookie of the Year.

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.